This invention relates to a connector suitably used, for example, in a wire harness for an automobile.
A connector of the type described is disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. 2-41824. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in this connector, a plurality of terminal receiving chambers 2 are formed in a female housing 1, and extend in a forward-rearward direction. Openings 3 are formed in upper and lower surfaces of the housing 1, and communicate with the terminal receiving chambers 2. The openings 3 are closed by covers 4 (each serving also as a terminal retaining member) after press-connecting terminals (not shown), to which wires W are to be connected, respectively, are mounted respectively in the terminal receiving chambers 2. Each of the covers 4 is connected to the upper (or the lower) surface of the housing 1 by a pair of long hinges 5 and 5, and before the cover 4 is closed, each cover 4 is held in a suspended condition above the upper openings 3 (or below the lower openings 3). The pair of upper hinges 5, as well as the pair of lower hinges 5, comprise elastic bands, respectively, which can be easily bent or flexed upon application of an external force.
In the above conventional connector, less time and labor are required for the supply and storage of the parts as compared with the type of connector in which a cover, serving as a terminal retaining member, is separate from a housing. However, in some cases, the parts become entangled with each other during the supply of the parts, and also the wire gets caught in a gap between the housing 1 and the cover 4 (serving also as the terminal retaining member) during the production of a wire harness. This results in a possibility that the hinges 5 are damaged.